


The 53rd Class of Li'l Ultimates feat. The Ultimate Maid

by oracacia



Category: Dangan, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - High School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:28:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 13,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29269518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oracacia/pseuds/oracacia
Summary: Kirumi Tojo gets an invitation to Hope's Peak Academy to enter as the Ultimate Maid. But the school has one very special request to ask of her, which, of course, Kirumi accepts.The request turns out to be for her to babysit a bunch of 10-year olds until the end of the year, and chaos ensues (but not that much).
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1 // Getting Accepted

It was just a normal summer day.  
Kirumi was at home after investigating a street gang called DICE for the Togami family, and had been looking through the info she had gathered, when she noticed that a piece of mail had been slipped through her door.  
  
“Should I get up and look at the mail?” Kirumi pondered to herself. She looked back on the files that she was reading, thought for a few moments, then concluded, “No, I should finish taking these notes first. The Togami family would prefer if I finished their request as soon as possible.”  
  
A few hours later, Kirumi finally decided that she was done with her task, set her papers aside to the organizer labelled “Togami Family Requests”, and got up to pick up the envelope. Her eyes widened as she noticed the message had come from the headmaster of the prestigious school, Hope’s Peak Academy.  
  
She sat back down at her work desk, and opened up the mail being careful not to tear the envelope lest she someday might not have it in case it is ever needed, and took in every single word.  
  
 _Miss Kirumi Tojo,_ _  
_ _  
_ _We are pleased to inform you that after this year, you will be welcomed into Hope’s Peak Academy with open arms, as the Ultimate Maid._ _  
_ _  
_ _Our scout, and also much of our staff had seen all of the amazing things you’ve done for our city, all because it had been requested of you. That is why you have been chosen out of hundreds of considerations to be an Ultimate at our school._ _  
_ _  
_ _Should you need more info on the school, we have a website that you may visit containing advice from current and previous students at the school, and also information about dress codes, classes, etc._ _  
_ _  
_Kirumi smiled. Of course, she had a feeling in the back of her mind that the distinguished school might notice her and all of the requests she had fulfilled for large companies, and even once the Prime Minister. But having that feeling confirmed was a feeling like no other.  
But she couldn’t put the note down and check the website yet. Apparently they had more to say.  
 _  
_ _But our school also has a request to make of you, the Ultimate Maid. It is related to the elementary school affiliated with Hope’s Peak, and this task must be committed to throughout the whole school year._ _  
_ _  
_ _If you are interested, please visit the main high school sometime this week or next week, and should anyone ask about your presence, show them this letter. It is not mandatory for you to accept this request, but we would be thrilled if you did._ _  
_ _  
_ _Thank you,_ _  
__Jin Kirigiri_ _  
__Hope’s Peak Academy Headmaster_ _  
_ _  
_A request from the school? Now, this wasn’t the biggest request that Kirumi had ever committed to, but this certainly seemed like quite a significant one to her. And one that must be done throughout the whole year! Are they going to make her a teacher for the elementary school? That was the only conclusion Kirumi could come up with before finally putting the letter back into the envelope so her parents could see once they had come back from their job, and started to get ready to sleep.  
  
Right before she turned off the light, she decided that she was very interested in the request that the school made, and she made a plan to arrive at the school tomorrow morning. _  
_


	2. Chapter 2 // On the Way to School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kirumi's parents appear once in the story and then never again, so if they seem drastically OOC there's no need to worry

Kirumi had picked out the most formal outfit from her closet, and went downstairs to make breakfast for her parents, who she had assumed were going to wake up later as they always did.   
But to her surprise, her mother was downstairs, making breakfast for  _ Kirumi. _ _   
_   
“M, Mother? What are you doing up so early? Shouldn’t I be the one making breakfast?” She asked, trying to hide her surprised tone.   
“Seriously, Kiru? You thought that I was gonna sleep in like I always do, after you show off that letter smack dab on the middle of our dining table? Nuh-uh, no way.”   
  
Kirumi wasn’t surprised about her mother’s extremely casual tone, as if they were childhood friends instead of mother and daughter. Her mother was very young and spirited, and even though she had never shared the details, Kirumi knew that her father was not her biological one, and could deduct a few possibilities. Not that she ever talked about them.   
  


Her mother was a very incapable person, but she made up for that with her extremely kind heart and empathy. Kirumi couldn’t recall any memories of her mother holding ill will towards anyone except for the guy who was seen yelling at his child for ruining his white clothes.   
  
Kirumi never once had any harsh feelings towards her mother, and they both ended up getting along quite well while Kirumi was growing up. Kirumi usually seemed more like the mother at some points in her life.   
  
“Well, I guess that is true.” Kirumi looked at the breakfast that her mother tried to make. It was sunny-side-up eggs, but despite the fact that it was fairly simple compared to the feasts that Kirumi made for all three meals of the day, and the mediocre taste, it satisfied Kirumi just knowing that her mother made it.   
  
“Sooo, what are you gonna do? Taking up the request? You should. I heard the kids at the elementary school affiliated with Hope’s Peak are ADORABLE!” Her mother gushed.   
  
“Although I won’t be taking up the request for the sake of ‘adorable children’,” Kirumi said in the most joking tone that could possibly come out of her mouth, “Yes, I was quite interested in their offer. In fact, I’ll be visiting the school today, after I finish your breakfast.”   
  
“Woah, really?” Kirumi nodded. “Well, I wish you good luck! I’m assuming that you’ll have to take a role similar to a teacher, and I recall hearing that an adorable mischievous little brat got enrolled into the school.”   
  
“Thank you, Mother.” Kirumi finished up her breakfast, washed hers and her mother’s dishes, grabbed the Hope’s Peak letter, and started to head out. “I’ll be back in a few hours. Remember to tell Father about buying the groceries before coming back home.”   
  
“Bye!”   
  
Once Kirumi was out of the house and started walking towards the huge school, she kept herself occupied on the walk by recalling all of the other requests that other companies had made and wrote mental plans of when to finish them.   
  


* * *

  
  
After arriving at the school, she decided to look up at the glowing masterpiece that was called Hope’s Peak Academy and take in its beauty one more time before stepping through the gates.   
  
Despite the layout of the building looking fairly complicated at first glance, Kirumi had studied the map of the school before she went downstairs to eat breakfast, so she was pretty confident in her ability to find the headmaster’s office.   
  
Once she made it to the door, she knocked politely, and a man with long blonde hair and a hat opened the door. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days, and he also looked like he was going to puke in Kirumi’s face. Kirumi successfully managed to hide her confusion and unnerved thoughts as she smiled and said, “I would like to speak to the Headmaster, please,” and held up her letter.   
  
The man nodded in acknowledgment and yelled, “Hey Kirigiri! The Maid is here,” to the inside of the room.   
  


After a moment of silence, a voice said, “Kizakura, you really didn’t need to yell. I’m right across the room.”   
  
Kizakura said, “Sorry..” and stepped to the side, letting Kirumi step inside.   
  
Kirumi mustered the courage to look the headmaster in the face, who surprisingly looked very friendly for a headmaster.   
  
“Mr. Kirigiri, I would like to discuss the request that you had made to me regarding the elementary school affiliated with Hope’s Peak.”   
  
Kirigiri simply smiled and said, “Yes, I’m sure by now you have an idea of what we’re going to ask you, as we had told you about the task lasting the whole school year.”   
  
Despite Kirumi partially knowing about her request, it was still a shock to hear him say,    
“We ask you to live in the school alongside the 53rd class, and be their caretaker for their last year at the school.”   



	3. A Chat with the Headmaster

After Kirigiri and Kiruimi discussed her payment, she decided to finally move on to the other questions in her head.

“So, I will live at the school?” was the first question that popped up in Kirumi’s mind. “Then, will you allow me to have an office to complete tasks from other companies?”   
  
Kirigiri said, “Actually, we want you to have your full focus on our 53rd class this year. If the request’s importance is supposedly extremely high, only then will we allow the task to be given to you. But don’t worry, it’s just for this year that we’ll be intercepting any requests towards you. Once you get into the high school next year, it’s completely your choice on which requests you want to take up.”   
  
Kirumi said, “Alright, that sounds reasonable.” She pondered about what more there was to ask, and she settled on, “So… Does this mean that I will be in the 54th class of Hope’s Peak Academy?”   
  
“The elementary school was built a few decades after Hope’s Peak, which is why this is the 53rd class. You won’t be entering the 54th class, but the 78th. There was a student in this class-- Junko Enoshima-- who unexpectedly dropped out quite abruptly a few weeks back. Her sister, Mukuro Ikusaba, had decided to stay in the school, though. That is why we had to go scouting for another student and found you.”   
  
Kirumi said, “Oh, alright,” and didn’t give it a second thought. 

Kirigiri, however, seemed to think that she had taken it to the offense, and quickly tried to reassure her by saying, “Don’t worry, it doesn’t make you any less special because you were just a replacement scout. You’ve changed our city! Even managed to gain the trust of the Togamis! That’s absolutely something special.”   
  
Kirumi chuckled. “Thank you, Mr. Kirigiri, but I didn’t need to be reassured. I already know it is an honor to be accepted into the school, even if it’s out of pure luck. I’m quite grateful for being allowed into the school no matter the circumstances.”   
  
Kirigiri sighed in relief. “That’s wonderful. Having students with positive mindsets like you is the hope that this school needs.”   
  
Kirumi wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so she changed the topic by saying, “Anyways, will I be able to meet any of the students prior to the beginning of the year?”   
  
Kirigiri replied, “No, unfortunately, I don’t think so. But trust me, on the first day of school you will have plenty of time to get used to all 15 of the students, the teachers, and the elementary school building itself.”   
  


Kirumi said, “I understand. Well, thank you for the information, and I will accept your request. Thank you for giving me your time.”   
  
As Kirumi walked out the door, the headmaster said, “Thank you for accepting the request! We hope you’ll have a great time with our class 53.”

* * *

When Kirumi got home, she decided to see if there was any info on the Li’l Ultimates. She noticed an online forum named “Calling all parents! Let’s discuss the Hope’s Peak Elementary students!” and decided that she would shoot her shot there.

  
She realized that people were talking live since a few of the messages were just a few seconds ago. She decided to refresh the page a couple of times so she would have more info to read about.   
  
The messages that she found the most interesting were:   
  
_ I heard that they were entering in a Li’l Ultimate Adventure. Apparently, he traveled the world alongside his father to look for his siblings, and even helped with a disease in one of the villages? Sounds like a load of nothing to me. I bet he just got in from running around his neighborhood and discovering that there was a place populated with frogs near the lake. _ _  
  
_

_ Did you also know that they were entering in a Li’l Ultimate Trickster? He looks absolutely adorable, but apparently he’s obsessed with the gang called DICE and even formed his own little gang at the school. They’ve pulled all sorts of pranks, but there’s nothing the teachers can do about them since they don’t really do any harm. Plus, it’s part of his Ultimate. But honestly? It just seems like something that any little kid could do. _ _  
  
_

_ It’s always the super bizarre Ultimates that happen to be the most normal. But have you seen the Li’l Ultimate Piano? She’s amazingly talented. It’s as if she’s been practicing for decades, almost as if she  _ is  _ the piano itself. Her videos are all over the internet.  _ _  
  
_

_ Li'l Ultimate Art, as well! She seems to have a fairly normal talent, but I remember seeing her create these bust sculptures that could be in a museum if it was old enough. They look completely realistic as well! She made one for the headmaster at the high school, and side by side, you really can’t tell the difference. _ _  
_ _  
_ _ Yeah, but she’s unique in more ways than one. She’s an absolute religious freak. I don’t know what her parents believe in, but she definitely seems like she grew up in a strange place.  _ _  
_ __  
If the students’ stories and personalities were really true, then Kirumi probably signed up for a LOT more than she had first anticipated.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so those are the first three chapters that I originally posted on Wattpad (and also they look a lot shorter here than they did on there). I'll post the other chapters here later


	4. First Day of School

Kirumi looked down at the group of Li’l Ultimates.    
_ Sometimes I forget exactly how large 15 can be. _ _   
_ _   
_ Every single one of these kids were nothing like each other. Not only were their personalities full of variety, but they all also had one thing about their look that distinguished them from everyone else. How was she supposed to keep  _ all 15 _ of them in order?   
  
“So, does anyone want to introduce themselves to me?” Was the only thing that Kirumi could get out of her mouth.   
  
The majority of the children seemed to raise their hands, so she just told them to line up when she touched their hands and they went accordingly.   
_ So far so good... I hope. _

“Okay, you go first.” 

A girl with blond hair and what looked like an exaggerated cowlick in a pink vest and a skirt with musical note patterns on it waved her hands enthusiastically.

  
“Hi, I’m Kaede Akamatsu! Li’l Ultimate Piano! I was in the same class as some of the others for the past few years, so we know each other fairly well! I’m really happy to have such a talented person like you be our school mom!”   
  
“S, School mom..?” Kirumi said, questioning the bubbly girl.    
  
“Yeah! We all agreed that we’ll call you Mom for the whole year!” She said, creating emphasis on ‘whole year _ ’ _ by stretching her arms out wide.   
  
“...Alright, then. Next?” Kirumi said, not sure how else she was supposed to respond to Kaede.    
  


“Hello! My name Gonta!” A fairly strong-looking kid said. Despite his intimidating (for a child)’s looks, his voice and tone seemed to contrast almost completely.

“Gonta is Li’l Ultimate Bug Hunter! But don’t worry, Gonta don’t hunt bugs. Gonta like collect bugs! Bugs are friends!”   
  
“That’s very nice. You seem like a very sweet child. Who’s next?” Kirumi said.   
  
A kid with dark purple, messy hair seemed to be extremely overexcited for his turn to introduce himself. Kirumi couldn’t help but notice how adorable it was.   
  
“Hi! I’m Kokichi Oma! I’m the Li’l Ultimate Trickster! I’m really good at pranks and lying and all that stuff! But don’t worry, you’re not gonna get targeted. After all, you’re my very nice teac- Oh no, I mean Mom! You’re my mom now! I’m so excited!”

_ So this is the kid that was obsessed with DICE,  _ Kirumi thought to herself. Honestly, she couldn’t help but agree with the parents on the forum. He just seemed like an enthusiastic kid who just liked pulling stupid pranks.    
  
“Alright, Kokichi. Next?”   
  
And the introductions kept on going.   
  
“I am Angie Yonaga. Li’l Ultimate Art. But I’m not the one who paints, it is Atua!”   
  
“Himiko Yumeno. Li’l Ultimate Magic. No, it’s not a trick! It’s magic! Real magic! I can do all kinds of things with magic!”   
  
“My creator named me K1-B0, but you can call me Keebo! I am the Li’l Ultimate Robot! How am I going to grow up? Oh, my creator made a system so that once I reach the age of 15 I will turn into an average-sized teen! But right now, I’m small! See?”   
  
“Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars! Li’l Ultimate Space! That’s a cool name, right? It’s cool because I’m going to be an astronaut one day, and go to space!”   
  
“Sh,Shuichi… Saihara... Li’l Ultimate Detective… But I’m not a real detective! I’m in training. I only solved a few theft cases a while ago. That’s it. I’m not very good at it.”

“Tenko Chabashira! That’s me! Li’l Ultimate Aikido! I will defend and protect all of you! Except the boys of course. Those ones are horrible people.”   
  
Those were the people who were able to introduce themselves to Kirumi. But there were a few who didn’t say a single word. Not that it was a problem for Kirumi, since she already had the names. She only asked for the kids who wanted to introduce themselves so she could get a grasp of a few of their personalities.    
  
The kids that seemed like they didn’t like to talk much were Korekiyo Shinguji, Maki Harukawa, Miu Iruma, Rantaro Amami, Ryoma Hoshi, and Tsumugi Shirogane. But, of course, they could just be talkative people and don’t like talking to new people, or they take the opportunity to not do anything whenever they get that chance.    
  
She could easily apply the latter guess to Miu, because throughout the whole day she seemed to be a quiet person, but if anyone tried to come up to her she would snap at them in a very aggressive manner or pretend to be asleep so they don’t talk to her.   
  
Korekiyo, Rantaro, and Tsumugi could be applied to her former assumption since they all seemed fairly comfortable with the other children but were quiet with Kirumi and only gave her answers if she asked.   
  
Maki and Ryoma were the ones who seemed like they just didn’t like talking at all.    
  
Miu was the Li’l Ultimate Inventor, and she seemed to be quite full of herself and her creations, but she ended up becoming docile whenever Kokichi insulted her.   
  
Korekiyo was the Li’l Ultimate Human Study, who seemed very,  _ very  _ interested in human emotions, but lacking any himself. He liked observing the small arguments between Miu and Kokichi.   
  
Rantaro was the Li’l Ultimate Adventure. He didn’t seem fond of sharing any of his adventuring stories, but he was friendly with the other children despite that.   
  
Tsumugi was the Li’l Ultimate Costumer because of her experience in costume making for children’s shows. She had come to the first day of school that day wearing a purple gown that supposedly belonged to a brunette village girl whose mother got married to the king.   
  


Maki was the Li’l Ultimate Babysitter, because she grew up in an orphanage before coming to Hope’s Peak and was well known for being a magnet to the other kids, despite she herself not liking children very much. Maki seemed to like hanging around Kaito and Shuichi, but she didn’t talk much, if not at all.   
  
Finally, Ryoma was the Li’l Ultimate Tennis. He didn’t like acknowledging his Ultimate, because a few years back he accidentally injured someone in the eye with his tennis racket, so he only plays whenever it’s for mandatory practice. He seemed to be carefree with the other students, but he was very polite despite how unwelcoming he looked on the outside.   
  
Some of this information Kirumi had found the week before, while investigating the students, while the other info she had gathered by watching all the students interact with each other. Every single one of them had such a unique aura to them that she couldn’t keep her eye on one.   
  
Kirumi had decided to talk to the teachers next, who were all very kind to her, and some of them seemed even pitiful for her. Kirumi couldn’t tell why, but she assumed it probably had something to do with having to live with them and being treated like a mother by 15 very unique children.   
  


Finally, it was time for everyone to go to bed. In the elementary building, they only had dorms for the children attending their last year at the school, and it was in one single room separated into three different rooms. On the left was the boys’ dorm, and inside was two bathrooms and four twin-sized bunk beds, meant to fit 8 boys. On the right was the girls’ dorm, and inside was the exact same, two bathrooms and four bunk beds. The only difference is that the girls had one less person filling up the room.    
  
When the children had seen their dorms, they were all fairly excited by the idea of sleeping in the school. 

  
“Girls’ dorms on the right because girls are always right!” Tenko gloated smugly.

  
“Jeez, Tenko, that’s so old..” Kokichi groaned.    
  
In the middle of the room separating all the dorms was Kirumi’s, which was a full-sized bed, a work desk, and a few organizers in the room, plus her own bathroom.

  
“Woah, Mom gets her own bathroom!” Kaito pointed out.    
  
In the room separating all the other rooms, there was a kitchen area, a dining area, and a small lounge area, probably meant for the students during free time and mealtimes.    
  
After all the hassle of the children fighting over who got which beds and Kirumi having to convince Gonta and Kokichi that she was, in fact, allowed in the boys’ bedroom because she was their “mom”, she finally got to have some rest.   
  
She got into bed, wondering what the rest of her year was possibly going to look like with these kinds of kids around her.   
  



	5. The Student's Thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really proud of this chapter (like at all) but I'm not sure how to fix it so here it is anyways

After morning, the kids had plenty of praise for their “mom” to share with each other before their homeroom teacher walked in.   
  
“Mom woke us up with exactly enough time to change and eat! Wow, I wonder how she figured out how long it takes for us to get ready?” Tsumugi pondered.   
  
“I bet she figured it out by looking at our clothes and figuring out how long it took to change just by looking. Eughhhh, I can’t believe she invaded my privacy like that!” Miu said, shifting in her seat. 

“Atua has praise for Mom’s cooking,” Angie told everyone. “He says that it is probably even better than the cooking from the student at Hope’s Peak Academy.” Himiko looked intrigued, but nobody else seemed to be equally as impressed.    
  
“Mom helped me put on my scarf!” Kokichi said, pointing to his checkered-pattern scarf. “Ohhh, I was going to be so sad if no one helped. I was going to cry like this- WAAAHHHHHH!” Kokichi started crying crocodile tears. But then he suddenly stopped, as if there were never tears on his face in the first place, and continued, “But then Mom saved my life! Wow, she’s really cool! I think she might be my favourite person ever!”   
  


Kirumi was watching the classroom through the window behind the room, who heard all of what they had to say about her. Kirumi was touched, at first, but then Tenko pointed out, “Yeah, but Mom doesn’t really like talking to people…”   
  
“That’s true,” Kaito agreed. “She was mostly quiet, and whenever she was nice she mostly sounded tired. I don’t think she likes us…”   
  
Apparently, Kokichi’s favor of Kirumi suddenly vanished completely, and he started saying, “Yeah!! I think Mom hates us!! After all, why else would she be so uncomfortable with us?? She obviously doesn’t want to be here!! So I think we should return the favor, and be rude to her as we-”   
  
“I don’t think that’s exactly right,” Kaede said, finally speaking up. “Maybe she’s just unsettled because she’s meeting so many people at once? I think she might just be scared, yanno. We can’t just assume she hates us!”   
  
“I agree”, Shuichi said from behind Kaede. “Think of it like Maki.” 

  
Maki gave him a death glare, saying, “Do you want to die?”

  
“N,No,” Shuichi said, unnerved, but he still continued. “Maki wasn’t comfortable with talking to us since she had just met us, but see? Now she’s talking to us right now!”

  
Maki growled at him, but in what seemed like a joking tone, and turned back to her seat.    
  
Kokichi thought about it for a second, then switched back to his supportive side of Kirumi. “Yeah, you’re right. We should give her a chance.”   
  
As if it was coincidence, their conflict ended as soon as the homeroom teacher walked into the classroom. Kirumi decided she should take her leave and see if she had any requests from the headmaster or other teachers. Although the ending of their debate ended positively for Kirumi, she was still slightly concerned.   
  
“Would being warmer towards the students be better for me?” Kirumi said, thinking to herself. “Also, I’m sure some of the children would prefer having a caretaker be more.. Caring, wouldn’t they.”   
  
Kirumi decided to herself, “Alright. I’ll try to figure out how to be more nice.”   



	6. Card Game

It had been a few days now since Kirumi became the caretaker of Class 53. The children had slowly started to warm up to Kirumi as she changed her way of approaching the students, while Kirumi had also warmed up to the kids themselves.

While the children were in their classes, Kirumi was in her room, reading a book about the history of the Togami family since she hadn’t received any urgent requests from anyone yet.

She looked up at the clock, and noticed it was almost time for the students to come out of classes. Well, the students that had chosen to go to classes, anyways.

Just yesterday, Kokichi had dragged the information out of the homeroom teacher that it wasn’t mandatory to go to class, and he and a few others had a field day with the information.    
  


She walked out of her room to see Kokichi and Rantaro playing a childrens’ cards game in the lounge, and Miu, Kaito and Tenko observing. 

  
“Wahhhhhh Rantaro has less cards than meeeeeeee this isn’t fairrrrrrrrrr I HATE YOU RANTARO!!” Kokichi was speaking so fast that Kirumi almost couldn’t tell what he was trying to say. 

  
Rantaro was still polite as he told Kokichi, “Haha, sorry Kokichi, it’s just how the game works.”

  
“No, it’s not how the game works,” Kokichi argued, “BECAUSE YOU CHEATED! I BET YOU CHEATED!”  
  
“Yeah, you despicable male!” Tenko chided. “See, look, you couldn’t possibly have this little cards this early into the game! You obviously used a trick!”  
  
“Tenko, why are you siding with the brat Kokichi?” Miu wondered as she was playing with a few circuits. “Huh, do you liiiiiiike him?”

“Hey, garbage dump, it’d be nice of you to shut up,” Kokichi said. “Your useless opinions don’t matter.”  
  
“Ngh!” Miu said, flinching. She didn’t say anything else, but she did scoot farther away from the children and went back to work on her circuits.   
  
“Oh, hey, it’s Mom!” Kaito said, looking up from the card game. “Hi mom!!!”  
  
“Hello, Kaito,” Kirumi greeted. “Were you all not in class?”  
  
“No,” Kokichi said proudly. “It was too boring, so I got these people to come back here and play cards.”  
  
“N,No!” Tenko argued. “I only came back because I had already learned all the aikido possible! Something about… beating your opponent to death or… something… Anyways! Since I already knew everything, there was no need for me to stay! So I followed Miu and the degenerate boys back on my own will!”  
  
“Well, did you at least do anything useful in your time away from class?” Kirumi wondered. “Perhaps work on your talent or anything?”  
  


“I’m working on a new feature for Keebo!” Miu exclaimed, holding up her circuits. “I’m making him a photo-taking system, so he can, uhh, it’s a secret!”    


“I worked on my aikido, of course!” Tenko said. “I don’t need to be in a class to be able to practice!”   
  


“Nee hee hee, I worked on my tricking talent by playing cards!” Kokichi claimed. “See, the only reason I won the last games is because I'm that good at tricking. But then Rantaro started CHEATING!” Kokichi swept all of the cards off of the table in a frustrated tone. Crocodile tears streamed down his face as he wept, “How am I ever supposed to play fairly if you cheat like this? You’re the worst!”  
  
“But I didn’t cheat..” Rantaro said, his tone sounding confused but his expression looking as calm as ever. “Ask Kaito. I bet he didn’t see me put any cards down while you were in the washroom.”  
  
Kaito jumped at hearing his name, probably proving that he wasn’t paying attention at all. But he did seem to hear Rantaro’s last few words, because he said, “O,Oh, yeah I did see! Rantaro didn’t take any cards a,and he didn’t put any down! See? He’s playing fairly.”  
  
“Oh, yeah, that seems right.” Kokichi decided, his earlier distressed expression now gone. “Yeah, I guess you won fairly. Good job, Rantaro!”

Kirumi went into the kitchen to prepare their lunch.  
  
A few minutes into their next game, the children who had gone to classes burst through the door.  
  
“Kaito? YOU WERE HERE!?” Maki yelled, breaking the silence as the children who went to class reacted to the children who did the opposite. 

“S-Sorry, Maki-Roll,” Kaito sheepishly apologized. Maki made an attempt to lunge towards him with her pencil when Shuichi held her back.   
  
“Tsk, I can’t believe all of you ditched like that,” Kaede scolded, even though her tone of voice suggested that she didn’t have any way of changing their minds about ‘ditching is bad’.  
  
“Atua is shameful of all of you,” Angie lamented. “Attending class is a way for Atua to shape your brain and talent, and you are just dismissing it like that.”

“Well, maybe my brain and talent are already very shaped, thank you very much,” Tenko argued.   
  
“Mom, are you done making lunch?” Tsumugi asked, turning away from the commotion between the class-attenders and the class-ditchers. 

“I’m almost done. Just sit tight with the rest of your class, please.”   
  


Although Kirumi was mildly amused by the antics of her class, she would prefer if they were all quiet with food in their mouth.   



	7. Der Flohwalzer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for the end of Chapter 1! If the title spoils too much, then I'll change it to something else (if I can find a better name)

Once Kirumi had silenced their bickering, which had managed to go on for 5 very long minutes, she asked them, “So, what did you do in your classes today?”  
  
“Atua showed me advanced colour theory! It was very fun!” Angie exclaimed.   
  
“Are you sure that it was Atua, and not the homeroom teacher..?” Shuichi asked.   
  
“I was taught on making my own clothes and not using references from TV shows!” Tsumugi said. “Even though they’re not as good as the ones from the shows, I still really like them!”   
  
“Gonta learn all about bug anatomy!” Gonta said. “All the bug parts are very cool!”  
  
“Oh yeah, speaking of parts, I learned about all the different parts that make up a robot!” Keebo exclaimed. “It was like I was learning about myself! It was very self-esteem boosting, to be honest.”  
  
“Also speaking of parts,” Miu jumped in, “Look! Keebo! I have the camera system done!” She displayed the small circuits proudly. “And you can take the pictures at any quality you want, and print them out any size preferred!” Even though no one knew what each part was meant for, Kaede, Rantaro, Shuichi, and Kokichi were impressed, although everyone was certain that Kokichi was putting up another act.   
  
“Really?” Keebo looked less than excited, implying that he probably knew the reason for Miu making the camera system, and he wasn’t happy about it. “Well… can I use it for purposes other than yours?”   
  
Miu snorted. “Of course! But you gotta produce the most high-quality images for me only, because I was the one who made the camera. Also, you can’t use it for anything indecent!” Miu laughed at her own not-so-very joke. 

“Now I’m plain curious,” Tsumugi said. “What is your purpose with Keebo’s camera, Miu?”   
  


“Nothing that needs to be of your concern, smelly goblin,” Miu hissed. Keebo stayed silent.   
  
“Well, I’ll let you all go outside and have your free time,” Kirumi said. “I’ll be in my room if you need anything.”   
  
All of the children rushed out, going who-knows-where.

* * *

  
“MOOOOOOOOOOOOM!” Was the words that came out of multiple children’s mouths, interrupting Kirumi and her reading. She jumped from her seat, quickly smoothed out her dress, and opened the door.  
  
“Yes? What happened?” She asked. She was concerned because despite all of the shenanigans that happened within the class, none of them were bad enough to need Kirumi to step in.   
  


She looked down at the four children, Tsumugi, Miu, Gonta and Kaito. They all looked distressed.

  
“Kaede was just trying to find out who took her piano book, so she set up a trap to hit the next person to enter her piano room with a ping pong ball-” Kaito began. 

  
“But then instead she hit Rantaro on the head really really hard, and he didn’t even do anything!-” Tsumugi added. 

  
“Kokichi punish Kaede by forcing her to play song on piano!!-” Gonta continued. 

“They told me to come here, even though I don’t really care but I guess they want you to help,” Miu said.   
  
The children were speaking so fast that Kirumi had to take a few seconds to process, but eventually she got the idea that Rantaro was currently injured, and Kaede ended up getting punished, which ended up in a commotion between all the students. 

  
“Alright, I’ll go over and see what’s happening.”

* * *

Once she arrived at the piano room, Kirumi realized that she had severely underestimated exactly how chaotic it would be.  
  
Korekiyo, Himiko and Angie were observing Rantaro’s “body”, even though he seemed to be clearly conscious and was just hurt on the side of his head. Angie was saying “wee-woo-wee-woo!” over and over again, as if they were in an ambulance. 

“I’ve never seen a human in a state like this before!” Korekiyo gushed. “It is indeed interesting!”  
  
“Don’t worry, I can heal him with my magic,” Himiko assured towards no one in particular.

Keebo was holding back Kaede, while Kokichi was controlling her hands and repeatedly playing the most off-key Der Flohwalzer that Kirumi had ever heard. Kaede didn’t seem to be in any pain, but she looked extremely annoyed.   
  
“Come _on!_ ” Kaede complained, which was very out of character for her, since she seemed like the forgiving type. “You could have picked a harder song! And you’re not even playing the right notes! Keebo, let me go!”   
  
“I am sorry, Kaede,” Keebo apologized, “But this is your punishment for wrongfully hurting Rantaro.”   
  
Shuichi, Maki and Tenko were making multiple attempts to try and stop the duo, but Keebo pushed them back with a small third arm that seemed to be built into the side of his body.   
  
Ryoma was watching the whole thing go down, not as if he didn’t care, but as if he knew that he couldn’t really do anything.   
  
“Everyone, quiet down,” Kirumi tried to shout over the noise. Rantaro noticed, woke up from his “death”, and managed to silence the group investigating his body. Now the only noise was coming from the piano, Kokichi laughing, and Shuichi awkwardly begging on his knees for him to stop. After Shuichi noticed the silence, he started to become quiet as well, but Kokichi refused to stop his punishment for Kaede.  
  


Kirumi decided to deal with that later, and went on to help Rantaro. She offered him an ice pack that she had brought on the way, and Rantaro took it gratefully. “Thank you.”   
  
“Kokichi, it would be nice of you to pause on the punishment,” Kirumi suggested.   
  
Kaede used up what seemed to be the last few bits of her strength to pull her hands away from Kokichi and glared at Keebo behind her, who let her go.   
  
“Aw, I wasn’t even done playing the song…” Kokichi pouted.  
  
“Trust me, you’ve played it plenty,” Shuichi assured him in an irritated and tired tone.  
  
“Now that it’s quieted down, exactly what happened?” Kirumi asked.   
  
“I accidentally hit Rantaro with my trap to catch who stole my piano book, and it ended up hitting him harder than I expected,” Kaede admitted. “Then I found out that Rantaro wasn’t the one who took it, and Kokichi told Keebo to hold me and Kokichi made me play the same song over and over again as punishment for wrongfully hurting someone.”  
  
“Kokichi?” Kirumi turned to Kokichi.   
  
“Nee-heehee, it was rightfully served justice!” Kokichi boasted.  
  
“Well, Kaede, did Kokichi cause any pain to you while holding you?” Kirumi asked Kaede.   
  
She shook her head. “No, none at all. But it was still ANNOYING!” She yelled.   
  
Shuichi went over to Kaede. “Kaede, I really think you should let it go. There’s not much we can do anymore now that it’s over.”   
  
Kaede huffed. “I guess you’re right.” Suddenly, her mood changed from irritated to her normal personality. “Well, what should we do now? Hey, wanna go visit Miu’s lab? I wanna see the eat-while-sleeping invention she told us about.”   
  
Kirumi couldn’t help but feel relieved as everyone, including Kokichi, agreed and they all exited the piano room. Kirumi placed her trust in Kaede as she had calmed down, and she cleaned up the piano room before she left to supervise the group.  



	8. Salt

The second week was almost over with the 53rd Class, and Kirumi Tojo was beginning to grow tired.

  
Of course, she still dedicated her whole day to the children all the time, but she was starting to wonder if it wasn’t enough.

  
Kirumi was also quite grateful for the fact that Headmaster Kirigiri hadn’t let any requests come in so far, because at first her schedule was quite empty, but the days had started to grow into a busy routine, and Kirumi found herself laying awake at night working on the children’s reports for teachers, trying to figure out what each of them liked so she could suit her meals to their needs, and overall trying to create the best experience for the students. 

Kirumi found that some of the toughest kids were Kokichi and Miu, and sometimes  Korekiyo and Angie created quite a handful.

Kokichi and Miu were definitely a mischievous duo, and despite both of them having a strong dislike for each other, they happened to be the core cause for most of the antics throughout the class. They would rope poor children like Keebo and Gonta into their plans, while Shuichi and Kaede would be trying to stop them.   
  
Korekiyo was a quiet person in general, but if you started talking about anything related to the occult or anything spiritual, he would become extremely passionate about the topic, and sometimes even stop everyone from going to class so he could finish his speech on talking to souls. 

Angie was an extroverted child, and also seemed to be highly devout as well. Most of her conversation topics were about Atua, and although that in itself isn’t harmful, she once tried to start a cult-like group with a few children, Tenko, Keebo, Gonta and Himiko, and called it the Student Council. They had laid out very strict rules that really didn’t need to be put out at all, and when Kirumi tried to tell them that this wasn’t necessary, Angie had assured her that it was all for the sake of Atua.

Tenko had confided in Kirumi, telling her that she really didn’t agree with what the Student Council was doing, but she only joined because she was worried about her friend Himiko. Tenko had wanted to get rid of the Student Council from the inside but it didn’t work out, so she asked Shuichi, Kaede and Kaito to come with them, and she wanted to see if Kirumi would be able to come as well. Kirumi had agreed, slightly relieved that this whole thing might come to an end soon, and after a long while of attempting to convince first the members, then Angie herself, the Student Council phase had ended. Despite it only lasting for maybe 5 days, it was a very busy 5 days for Kirumi.   
  
Kirumi was now lying on her bed in her room after making dinner. She was tired since Kokichi had pulled a prank and poured salt into what was supposed to be their dessert while Kirumi had her back turned while washing dinner’s dishes. She was already tired from the past few hours of supervising the kids, which had been quite the afternoon since Miu had accidentally set off one of her inventions.

She had no idea in the slightest, since most of the children were eating their dessert politely, assuming that the strange taste was just the regular flavor. But once Miu had swallowed her first spoon, she asked, “Don’t you think this tastes strange?” towards the rest of the table.  
  
Everyone, after a small pause, had all nodded quietly, and Kaede said, “Sorry, Mom, (which had become a nickname after a while), but this tastes kinda salty. Is this just a part of the food?” 

Kirumi was quite surprised, which had been quite the reaction for everyone at the table, since she was usually very cool-headed. 

She had spent tedious minutes measuring the exact numbers for the dessert just so that the kids would calm down from the busy afternoon and just enjoy their dinner, but she had never recalled placing any salt.    
  


“No, in fact, I didn’t place any salty or sour ingredients in the food. Can you let me try?” 

Kirumi grabbed a spoon, and Kaede moved the bowl closer to her. Kirumi took a small portion of the dessert and tasted it. Immediately she realized, “There’s a lot of salt in the dessert, but I didn’t place it. Someone might have done it while I was washing the dishes.”   
  


Kirumi scanned the room, and immediately ruled almost everyone out, except for Miu and Kokichi, because the dessert was always something that most children looked forward to after Kirumi started serving it. 

Miu seemed genuinely shocked when she tasted the dessert, but Kokichi had stayed quiet, playing with his food. He didn’t seem to have any ‘guilty’ look on him, but he was the only suspect, so Kirumi asked, “Kokichi, did you do this?”   
  


“...Maybe.”   
  
“Come on, Kokichi, you’re really the only person who could do this,” Rantaro pointed out.   
  
“We can all plainly see that you’re the one who looks the least forward to dessert!” Tsumugi added. 

Kokichi had stayed quiet.  
  
Maki sighed. “Kokichi, really? Not even putting up a lie? There’s really no excuse to make, just say it outright. We won’t get mad, you’ve done this before.”   
  
After a few long seconds, Kokichi finally spoke up.   


“Yeah, I did it. Nee-heehee, I was just surprised because of the reaction that Mom had! Man, it feels good to finally get an emotion out of her.” Kokichi went back to his usual mischievous personality.    
  


Kirumi sighed, and Kokichi flinched. It was a very small, unnoticeable flinch, but Kirumi managed to catch it. “Alright, Kokichi. That was a good one.” Kirumi had always praised Kokichi for his pranks, since she really didn’t know what other reaction to give him that wasn’t distasteful. Despite being upset at Kokichi many times, she wanted to put up a good picture for everyone else in the class. 

“Everyone seems to be very tired, so despite the fact that it’s a weekend tomorrow, how about you all go to sleep? I’ll be awake for the next 10 minutes if you need anything.”

  
Almost simultaneously, everyone said, “Alright, Mom,” or “Alright, Miss Kirumi,” and went on their way to their dorms. Shuichi and Kaede sent her apologetic looks before they went in.  
  
Kirumi, as she said to the children, sat at the lounge for around 10 to 15 minutes, then she herself went into her room.  
  
She stayed awake for a few hours doing studying for the students, since they had regularly come to her whenever they needed help in subjects during free time. Then, she went to sleep late into the night, as she had done for the past few days.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm genuinely sorry to Kokichi fans out there for this chapter and the next one


	9. The Inventions

The next day, when Kirumi woke up with about 3 hours of sleep, she decided to supervise the kids for an hour or two, send them off for free time in the supervision of other teachers, and get the rest of her sleep then. She could hear a faint noise outside her door, but she assumed it was just her head buzzing from her reading so much.

When Kirumi walked out of her room, expecting to be the first one awake, but she was again surprised.  
  
All of the children, in fact, _all_ of the children, were already at the table, and they were either eating or waiting to eat the sandwiches that Keebo was making. They were all chattering away, as if they’ve done this every single day.  
  
When Kirumi’s door creaked from her opening it, most of the kid’s heads turned to her direction.   
  
“Hi Mom, I made breakfast!” Keebo said gleefully. “Miu gave me cooking knowledge with her circuits, so now I can make all three meals of the day!”   
  
“And I can watch for brats that might put salt in the food, and attack them to death with my Aikido!” Tenko said, making a pose that Kirumi could only assume was an Aikido pose.   
  
“That doesn’t seem like Aikido,” Tsumugi said quietly.   
  
“The point is, you don’t need to be busy anymore,” Kaito told Kirumi.  
  
“Yes! Everyone and Gonta help Mom!” Gonta said.   
  
“T,Thank you, everyone,” Kirumi said, not knowing how else to express her gratefulness. 

“By the way, are you sleeping well?” Miu asked, which seemed to be quite an out-of-character thing for her to do, being concerned about someone’s sleep schedule.   
  
“Yes, why?” Kirumi asked.  
  
“Liar! Liar! She’s lying!” Kokichi yelled, pointing at Kirumi.   
  
“I can tell with my magic that you’re barely sleeping,” Himiko claimed.  
  
“...I think we can all tell from her eye bags,” Shuichi quietly pointed out.  
  


“Anyways, ignoring them,” Miu turned away from their conversation and back to Kirumi.    


“Since you can’t sleep, I made this machine where you can work while sleeping!” She pulled out a contraption from the messenger’s bag that she started carrying around last week because she didn’t like keeping everything in her bag. 

  
“I realized that so many people waste precious hours sleeping when they could be super productive! So, this is the write-while-sleeping machine, the read-while-sleeping machine, and I even made an eat-while-sleeping machine if you’re that kind of person!” Miu said, prideful of her work.  
  
“Unfortunately, this wasn’t my whole idea. I was working in the lounge after you went to your bedroom last night,” Miu said calmly, not being afraid of Kirumi scolding her for being awake so late, which she had to give her credit for, “and someone came out of their dorm and was about to enter into the girl’s dorm, as if they were looking for someone. I asked them, ‘Hey, are you looking for your soulmate or something?’ and they turned around and looked at me. They said that I was the person they were looking for, and they claimed they were concerned about your well-being and asked me if I could make a machine to help you or something, so we brainstormed and figured out this idea.”   
  
“Who’s this person you’re speaking about?” Ryoma asked.   
  
“I’m not telling you,” Miu refused to answer, sticking her tongue out. “Also, they said I can’t reveal their identity for some strange reason.”  
  
“Well, I think it was Kokichi,” Kaito said. “I woke up to him sliding out of the bunk bed under me, and I heard the door open, so it was probably him.”  
  
“Yeah, it was Kokichi,” Miu admitted way too quickly, as if she wasn’t planning on keeping the secret at all.   
  
“Hey, why’d you do that?” Kokichi asked, exasperated. “I spent so long convincing you that it wasn’t worth it to reveal my name, you little dumpster!”   
  
“Oh, cut the act, I know you don’t really care,” Miu sighed. “Also, It really doesn’t matter if you were the one who came up to me. We hate each other, but it’s not like you asking me for help is something to be ashamed of. I _am_ going to be the greatest golden-brained inventor in history, after all.”  
  
Despite Kokichi still looking quite irked, it seemed as if everyone thought it was an act, so he went back to eating his sandwich.  
  
Kirumi looked at the three inventions placed in her hands, and she could feel her eyes about to water. Other than her parents, of course, no one had ever seemed to be this concerned about her well-being, so this held quite the meaning to her. She looked up at the class and smiled.   
  
“Thank you.”


	10. A Visit To Hope's Peak Academy

Kirumi was reading a book at the lounge when she heard the ‘click!’ of the door unlocking. 

She looked to see the student’s homeroom teacher opening the door for the kids, and the teacher looked at Kirumi, waved and smiled as the kids started flowing into the lounge, their chattering being equally as loud as they were outside the door. A few kids did look at Kirumi and say, “Hi, Mom!”, though.

It was almost October, and the students had gone on a short ‘field trip’ to Hope’s Peak Academy and visited the 77th class that morning. It was nearly time for dinner, which was when the kids had arrived.  
  
Kirumi was very bored at first, because she really had nothing to do other than watch over the students, but she found out that there was a teacher’s library in the elementary school building, and she picked out a few books and started reading. 

When the students had come back, all of them had mixed expressions. Some looked tired, some looked equally as energetic as they were when they left in the morning, and some, specifically Kokichi, looked as if they committed a crime-- and they were proud of it.  
  
After the homeroom teacher caught Kirumi up on what happened at the field trip and left, she silenced the students by asking, “So, how was the trip?”  
  
“UGH!” Miu grumbled, looking very irritated as she flopped onto the couch next to Kirumi. “The Ultimate Mechanic guy-- Kazoochi?? He’s so ANNOYING!!” 

“...What happened?” She asked, the question pointed to the rest of the class, who either reacted with a shrug, or an expression that looked like “Typical Miu”.   
  
“Kazuichi pointed out all the parts that could use improvement in Miu’s inventions,” Keebo said with a sigh. “Miu seems to be absolutely certain that he was talking down on her creations, though.” 

“But it plainly didn’t sound like talking down at all,” Tsumugi claimed, putting a finger to her mouth as if she was wondering about something. “He seemed plain impressed by Miu’s inventions. Didn’t he ask to see your makeshift surveillance camera that you made with a disposable camera?” 

“Yeah..” Miu admitted. “But then he TOOK IT APART! LIKE A JERK!”    
  


“...I think he just wanted to see how it worked,” Shuichi pointed out.   
  
“UGH! I HATE HIM!” Miu said, obviously not listening. Everyone decided to leave Miu alone, and Kirumi asked, “Anyone else?”  
  
Kokichi jumped in with, “There was this girl named Maki, I think”-- Maki glared at Kokichi-- “And she was soooo sensitive. Nee-heehee, she got into the most embarrassing situations ever! She showed us her privates!!! Me and the tiny Hiyoko girl made fun of her a lot. It was fun,” he snickered to himself.   


“Her name was Mikan…” Rantaro said.   
  
“She was the Ultimate Nurse, I think!” Tenko added. “She was really nice and also really pretty. I fell down and scraped my knee because I tripped, and she treated it so well!! I wanna see her again!!”   
  
“But,” Tenko continued, “She wasn’t as pretty as that princess girl.” 

“Oh, Sonia!” Tsumugi gushed. “She was so pretty!! Just like a girl from a fairy tale! I should make a costume dedicated to her! Everything about her was so… so… princess-like!!” 

“Sonia looked like she had a crush on the hamster guy,” Kaede thought to herself. “She seemed to agree with everything that guy said.  
  
“That was Gundham, who was the Ultimate Breeder,” Korekiyo began with his own summary of the day. “We talked about the occult a lot, and he also showed us his hamsters-- The Four Dark Devas of Destruction, he named them.”

“Gonta think that Gundham hamsters were adorable!” Gonta said. “Gonta love bugs, but Gonta also love Dark Devas of Destruction!”  
  
“Yeah, his hamsters were really cute,” Himiko agreed. “I think he used magic on them because normal hamsters couldn’t possibly be that cute.”   
  
“So, all of you seemed to enjoy your day in different ways,” Kirumi said, and everyone nodded-- except for Miu, who was in the girls’ dorm and seemed to be yelling so loud it could be heard through the door.  
  
“Well, I need to make sure she doesn’t break anything,” Maki said calmly, “so I’ll go now. Call me when it’s time for dinner.”  
  


Some girls left with Maki, while some boys went inside their dorms as well. The rest of them stayed with Kirumi as she got up and prepared dinner. 

Rantaro and Ryoma were passing time by playing a board game. 

Kirumi wasn’t exactly sure which one it was, but it seemed to be quite a competitive game, because despite the fact that both of them sounded calm all the time, their tones or words sounded irritated or as if they were annoyed by something. 

Kaede was watching Kirumi cook while humming a piece to herself.

Kirumi occasionally asked which piece it was in between periods of making the dinner, not for the sake of knowing the song but just because she wanted to have some conversation with her. 

Shuichi was describing one of the theft cases he had solved to Angie as she was quickly drawing it into her sketchbook.

Angie had insisted earlier that Atua was very interested in the theft cases that Shuichi had solved that got him the Li’l Ultimate Detective role, and that Atua wanted to see the cases solved visually, so Shuichi started speaking word by word, and Angie was quickly doing a block-in of the sketches, and then Shuichi paused for a few minutes to let Angie do the details. But to Kirumi, it just seemed like Angie was going through an art block and needed inspiration.  
  
Kirumi was always bothered by the sound of the kitchen timer, especially since eight times out of ten she couldn’t figure out how to turn it off, so she usually turned it off one minute before going off. But this time, she completely forgot about it because she was so mesmerized by how quickly and precisely Angie drew to Shuchi’s words, that the alarm went off- and it was much, much louder than Kirumi would have liked.  
  
The doors to the outside of the little “house” that the class had were soundproof, but the doors to the dorms and Kirumi’s room were definitely not soundproof, and despite being able to block out a lot of sound, the sound of the alarm probably broke through the whole thing.  
  
Everyone at the lounge and kitchen jumped, and Rantaro was so startled he accidentally dropped a few pieces of the board. Angie, somehow, managed to keep her composure and her drawing wasn’t ruined at all.  
  
The first person to run into the kitchen was Kaito, who yelled, “What is it!? Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars, will solve the problem! Just shut up this alarm first!” 

Surprisingly, Maki was the next person to walk into the room. Despite being the most calm-sounding, she seemed the most irritated, plugging her fingers into her ears.  “I don’t think it’s a problem that the Luminary of the Stars needs to solve. It just sounds like the alarm for when the food’s done,” she shouted over the alarm.  
  


“Is that the oven clock?” Kokichi asked, running into the room. “Mom, turn it off! I can’t concentrate on my studying.”  
  
“You’re not studying anything,” Keebo told him as he walked into the room. “You were placing that buzzer thing on top of Shuichi and Rantaro’s pillows.”  


“ShhhhHHHhhhHHH,” Kokichi said, holding his finger up and holding it to his mouth, then waving it around everywhere.   
  
Kirumi was in the middle of attempting to turn the thing off, and when she finally did, she sighed with relief. Kokichi clapped as two more people, Gonta and Miu, stepped into the room.   
  
“Wow, Mom!” Kokichi said. “That looked really hard to do. Good for you!”  
  
After the day when Miu had made those sleeping inventions for Kirumi, Kokichi had strangely grown docile for a while. But now it seemed as if he turned back to his normal self, which both relieved and annoyed Kirumi.

“Is that food?” Gonta said. He sounded extremely tired, as if he had just slept for a hundred years. “Sorry, Gonta fall asleep. Gonta no hear alarm.”  
  
“You didn’t hear that thing?” Miu asked, shocked. She also looked tired, as if she was sleeping as well. “I woke up real well when that started ringing! How did you sleep through _that_?” 

“Gonta fell straight asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow,” Kaito told her. “Nothing woke him up. Except something right now, for some reason.”  
  
“Oh, I placed a buzzer near Gonta’s hand,” Kokichi said proudly. “He probably shifted in his sleep and felt that.”

“Yes, Gonta feel buzz,” Gonta said. “Gonta thought it was bug, but it was just machine.” He looked down in disappointment.   
  
Once everyone else had entered the room, Kirumi served dinner.  
  
Despite the fact that Miu usually ate as if she hasn’t eaten in a hundred years, she ate fairly slowly. Kaede was the first to notice, and pointed it out.  
  
“Hey, did you eat something before coming here? You don’t look very hungry.”

“Uhh.. well.. I was testing this invention…” Miu admitted.   
  


“The eat-while-sleeping invention? Didn’t you hand that to Mom?” Tsumugi asked.  
  
“No, it was this invention where you _feel_ like you’ve eaten, but instead you haven’t eaten a thing. While you’re sleeping, it does this thing where it makes you feel like you’re eating, and..” Despite Miu being tired, she rambled on about her invention, and slowly everyone stopped listening. 

“Would that work on me?” Keebo wondered, once Miu had finished with her rambling. 

Keebo didn’t eat anything, since it wasn’t a part of his system, so Kirumi could understand why Keebo was interested in this specific invention.   
  
“Hm, we would need to make you a stomach system, maybe. It wouldn’t let you eat, but you could use the thing to make it feel like you _did_ eat, but I don’t know how to make it work…” Miu started talking to herself.  
  
“Hey, what if you ask Kazuichi for help? He seems to know his way around machines as well. We’re also going to go visit them again in a week or two. Two brains is better than one,” Rantaro suggested.  
  


“NO! NOT KA-POO-ICHI! NEVER! EVER!” Miu’s personality completely switched, and she started grumbling to herself about “Ka-poo-ichi”, which is when everyone decided to talk to each other again and ignore Miu. 

  
Kirumi laughed to herself, watching the children chatter away.   
  
Another day with the 53rd Class.    



	11. Keebo's Sick Day

Kirumi had been walking throughout the children’s labs that day when Miu burst through her lab door, dragging behind her a table with Keebo on it.    
  


Kirumi lightly gasped. “W-what happened to Keebo?”

Miu shrugged, a tint of shame on her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to, I just wanted to see if Keebo had a feature to get ill to make up for his extremely overpowered mechanics. Turns out I was right, and…”   
  


Keebo coughed a throaty, robotic-toned cough. Miu winced, then continued with, “...I couldn’t get him to heal. Whoops?”   
  


Kirumi checked around Keebo, even though she herself had no idea what to do. “What did you use to try and cure his fever?” 

Miu looked down at Keebo. “You know, the usual. Playing with some of his parts, adding and removing a few circuits. I swear I didn’t put anything in that, like, compromised his whole system.” 

Kirumi thought to herself, then suggested, “How about we go back to the main room. I’ll get everyone in there, you can go head on by yourself.”   


Miu agreed, “Alright!” She turned around and started walking while saying to Keebo, “Alright, don’t die on my watch or I’m turning you into a TV and selling you off.”

Kirumi hoped that Miu wouldn’t keep her word and went on to collect the children. Many kids were indulged in their activities, and were disappointed to hear that they had to leave. Despite the fact that he wasn’t doing much, Kokichi was the most annoyed in particular.    
  


“I can’t believe we have to miss the rest of our lab time for that sleazy dirtbag who got that sensitive machine sick. Ugh…” 

Once they all met up in the room, a few of them took a double take, including Kirumi, since Miu had somehow managed to disassemble Keebo in such a way that he was still very much ‘alive’, or as alive as a robot could be. 

Keebo’s heavy breathing was so realistic that anyone who wasn’t in the room would assume there was a dying person in the room.

“Nyeh, if he dies, I can heal him with my magic, so no one needs to worry,” Himiko told everyone, but no one responded nor looked at her.   
  
“Awwww, so sad,” Kokichi wailed. “I can’t bully Roomba-bot anymore…”

“I do realize that this is not a human, but his behaviour right now makes him look like a real homo-sapien being,” Korekiyo marvelled. “Quite compelling, if you ask me.”

“Alright, but does anyone have an  _ actual  _ solution?” Miu asked, annoyed with how relaxed everyone seemed to be, especially Kokichi. “In case you’re brain-dead, this guy can’t be revived nor replicated. His stupid creator died and didn’t even leave instructions on how to fix him, so what I’m assuming he was trying to be cool and make a human-like robot. So if you idiots don’t try to figure out some solution for this fever, which might as well be as high enough to be fatal for a human, he’s as good as gone by tomorrow.” Her firmness shocked everyone in the room, and so they immediately got to serious thinking. 

“Have you tried turning him on and off again?” Kokichi asked. Everyone glared at him, and he shrugged. “I dunno. I’m not the robot nerd here.”

“Why don’t you ask Kazuichi?” Ryoma asked. “He’s a mechanic, right? I’m sure he can fi-”  
  
“FOR THE LAST TIME, I’M NOT GOING TO KA-POO-ICHI!” Miu yelled. 

After a few moments of silence, Keebo let out another painful-to-hear throaty cough, as if the circuits inside of him were shaking around.

“...Okay, just this one.  _ Never again _ ,” Miu grumbled.

  
  


* * *

“Hey, look, it’s the kids again!” A girl with long, spiky, pink and blue highlighted hair called out. 

The Li’l Ultimates had visited Hope’s Peak after school, and before they went, they spent hours trying to figure out a remedy for Keebo’s illness. Some of the students were at the fountain, and they immediately noticed the large crowd. 

“Who is  _ that _ ?” A short girl in pigtails exclaimed, pointing to Kirumi. “She looks  _ super  _ edgy. Like you, Ibuki, but more fancy.”

“..Are you from the elementary school as well?” Kirumi asked the little girl.

The girl stared at her, eyes wide with shock. “Huh!? How stupid can someone be? I’m obviously from here! Why else would I be here!?” 

Kirumi stepped back from the girl. “I apologize. I misunderstood,” She said, and then curtsied.   
  
She scoffed. “No need to get all formal just to suck up to me.” 

“Don’t be mean, Hiyoko,” A girl with long, purple hair wearing a nurse’s outfit that was sitting on the other end of the fountain said quietly. 

“Shut up, pig barf,” Hiyoko retorted. The girl whimpered and went back to sitting quietly.

Keebo let out another cough, and both Ibuki and Hiyoko stepped back. 

“Isn’t the guy a robot?” Ibuki wondered. “Why is he sick??” 

“He has a function to get sick, obviously,” Miu said matter-of-factly.

“Oh dear, he doesn’t look very good,” The purple-haired girl said, and rushed towards Keebo. After inspecting him for a while, she sighed, and said, “I wish I knew how to remedy a robot.” 

“Why don’t we ask Kazuichi?” Ibuki suggested, and the girl lit up. “Why not?” 

“I’ll go get him,” Ibuki offered, and ran off. 

Now it was just all of them together, sitting in silence.


	12. Kazuichi's Arrival

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Hiyoko told Kirumi. “You look way too young to be a teacher.” Hiyoko suddenly gasped. “Are you one of their moms!?” 

“Oh, no,” Kirumi said. “I’m Kirumi. I’m just their caretaker for this year. After it ends, I’ll be entering Hope’s Peak as a student, just like you.”

“What Ultimate could you possibly be entering as?” Hiyoko wondered. “Ultimate Edgelord?”  
  
“Ultimate Maid,” Kirumi corrected. 

“Makes sense. You seem like a pushover,” Hiyoko thought to herself. Kirumi wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“By the way, where’s everyone else?” Himiko asked. “Are you sure Kazuichi hasn’t gone home or anything?”

“No,” the purple-haired girl said. “Kazuichi works at his workshop all the way until we all have to go home. He will be there, but it might be hard to get him here.”   
  


“He’s such a stubborn brat,” Hiyoko muttered, not being aware of herself.   
  
Korekiyo started up a strange conversation with Mikan about the human body. They both talked enthusiastically with each other until Ibuki arrived with questionably layered hot pink hair. 

“I got him out of the workshop!” Ibuki boasted. “It took a lot of convincing, but when I mentioned Sonia, he finally got up!” 

Kazuichi looked around like a little puppy, until he finally deflated. “Sonia’s not here.” 

Ibuki smiled. “That’s because I lied!” 

Kazuichi groaned, and started to walk back. 

“Wait,” Kaito called. “Keebo’s sick. Can you heal him?”

Kazuichi looked back and did a double take, as if he hadn’t noticed the 14 kids right before him. 

“Wait - the robot’s sick? Isn’t he… a robot?” 

“No, he has a function that lets him get sick,” Miu said tiredly, since it was the third time she had to explain it.

“That’s.. fascinating!” Kazuichi marvelled, immediately rushing to the robot. “Who is this guy’s creator? I  _ need  _ to meet him.”

“He went and died before he could leave instructions for us,” Kokichi explained.

“That makes this all the more interesting!”

“So… can you fix him?” Tsumugi wondered. 

“I…  _ might  _ need to keep him here for a few days,” Kazuichi admitted. 

“Aw, come on!” Miu shouted. “You’re probably gonna take him apart and keep him to yourself!” 

“No, no I’m not!” Kazuichi denied.

“He was considering it, though,” Hiyoko called out. Some of the kids stared at him in horror. 

“I promise I won’t murder him! I just need to keep him here. All my parts are in my workshop, and I don’t want to take them with me. If taking out his parts might cause him to break, I’ll be extra careful.” 

“He still needs to go to school, though,” Kirumi pointed out.

“Just give me a file of all of the things you guys will learn, and I’ll implant it into his head - wait, who are you?” Kazuichi asked.

“I’m their caretaker,” Kirumi explained briefly.

“Oh.” Kazuichi looked down at Keebo, who was turned off while waiting for Kazuichi to arrive. “So… can I keep him?”

There was a chorus of different answers. “No,” from Miu, a few uncertain mumbles from the other children, and a very, very strong “Yes!” from Kokichi. 

Kazuichi looked at Kirumi. “You give me an answer.”

“Only if you can return him in less than a week,” Kirumi said after contemplating an answer. “In the last two days, he should be put back together and in working condition. If not, I’ll need to make a legal complaint. Even if he’s a robot, he’s a child, as well.”

Kazuichi flinched. After a few seconds of silence, he finally said, “..Alright.”

Despite Miu’s obvious distress, Kirumi left Keebo to Kazuichi’s care, and he and Ibuki both carried him back to the workshop. The kids went back to the building, and Miu was still in a very, very bad mood.

  
“What if you could go there every day after school to see what Kazuichi’s doing?” Kaede suggested. 

“Yeah, then if he screws up, you can beat the degenerate male to a pulp!” Tenko said cheerfully. “I’ll help!” 

“I don’t think we need to take it to that extreme,” Shuichi said. 

After a few more grumbles, Miu gave in. “Alright..”  
  
After Kirumi made a plan for Miu to go to Hope’s Peak every day after school with either Kaede, Shuichi or Rantaro, since those three were the most trustworthy, she made dinner and set them off to bed. 

Kirumi then went into her own room, and secretly also hoped that Keebo was safe in Kazuichi’s care.


	13. Halloween Costume

Halloween was drawing near, and the children’s excitement for the event was growing along with it.

“I wonder how much candy we’re gonna get this year!” Kaede said excitedly. 

“Well, I  _ am  _ Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars,” Kaito boasted. “It’s obvious who’s going to get the most candy.” 

“Yeah, me!” Kokichi jumped in.   


“Huh- no!” Kaito argued. “ME!” 

Maki sighed as Kaito and Kokichi began their usual petty arguments for the day.

Kirumi smiled as she was cooking lunch, which was lasagna roll-ups. 

In the back of the room, Gonta was helping - or trying to help - Tenko with her Neo-Aikido. 

“For the last time, it’s NEO Aikido! It’s not SUPPOSED to be the same as normal Aikido, you… you MALE!” Tenko complained.

“G-Gonta sorry… You don’t need Gonta help? Gonta be gentleman and go,” Gonta offered to Tenko.

“Wait! A-actually, I kinda need some…. help,” Tenko admitted, and Gonta’s eyes started sparkling.

“Okay! Gonta help you!” 

Kirumi was content with Tenko starting to become more accepting towards the boys in the group, but as she started to go get cheese for the lasagna, she noticed Tsumugi looking quite frustrated at the lounge, while holding a dark blue fabric in her hands.

She turned off the stove with the boiling noodles and went over to see her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah! Don’t step there! I organized the fabric there and I don’t want it to get ruined!” Tsumugi put her hand up towards Kirumi to make her stop moving.

“Oh, I apologize,” Kirumi said. “You seem to be discontent. Is anything bothering you?”

“No, it’s just…” Tsumugi sighed. “I don’t know what to do for my dress-designing project. Every other time I could make a costume from a book or movie, but this time it has to come from my plain old brain,” She said, as she tapped her left temple.

“If your brain was really ‘plain’ and ‘old’, then would you have been able to create such beautiful costumes?” Kirumi wondered. “The intricacy of the embroidery on those dresses is amazing, especially for a girl as young as you.”}   
  


Tsumugi looked up, confused, since she didn’t seem to understand a few of the words Kirumi said. But she pieced it together and smiled. “Thank you very much! I’m still not sure what to do for the costume, though…”

Kirumi thought to herself. “What if you base it off of one of your classmates? You could see what they do in their labs, or ask them about their talent, and think of a design based on that.” 

Tsumugi’s eyes sparkled with inspiration. “Yes, that’s perfect! I can plainly see the person I want to talk to! Thanks, Mom!” And she ran off.    
  


Kirumi was about to call for her to tell her to clean up her fabrics, but she paused mid-way and instead decided to clean it up herself. 

“I wonder who she was thinking of,” Kirumi said to herself.

* * *

“I’m do~~ne!” Tsumugi announced, and everyone at the dinner table turned to look at her.

“Done what? Why’d you skip dinner?” Kaito wondered.

“I didn’t even realize she was away from the table,” Angie exclaimed. 

“I made a costume! All by myself! And it was  _ plain _ easy!” Tsumugi said cheerily. 

“It’d be nice if we could actually  _ see  _ the costume,” Maki suggested.

“Only after Tsumugi eats dinner herself,” Kirumi said. “Come sit here, we saved some food for you.” 

“You’ve been holed up in the dorm ever since lunch ended, so this better be good,” Tenko said. 

After the children were finished eating and Kirumi had finished washing the dishes, Kokichi started getting excited. “Can we see it, can we see it?” 

“It’s in this box, right here!” Tsumugi said proudly.

“Open it!” Kokichi bounced on his heels in excitement.

All the children leaned closer in anticipation, as Tsumugi pulled off the lid slowly. 

“Three… two… one…” Tsumugi pulled off the lid and all of the children gasped.

“Wo- huh?” Himiko stepped back. “There’s a spider on the costume!”  
  
Kokichi screamed and ran a few steps back. After a few seconds, he came back to the rest of the kids and said, “Is it gone?”  
  


“No… it’s not even moving,” Shuichi said. 

“Is it a part of the costume?” Rantaro wondered.

“Yes!” Tsumugi grinned. “It’s based off of Gonta and his Bug Hunting!”    
  


“Wow, really?” Gonta smiled. “Gonta never have anyone make dress for them before. Gonta is touched!”    
  


“I even made it to fit your size,” Tsumugi gloated. “Go try it on!” 

Gonta went into the boys’ dorm with the box in his hands, and everyone else started asking Tsumugi lots of questions.

“So why Gonta?”

“Is the outfit scary?”

“Don’t you think it’ll be too small for him?”

Tsumugi answered all the questions one by one, and soon Gonta walked through the door. 

Everyone turned to look at him and gasped. Kirumi could assume that they were all holding in their laughter, since Kirumi was trying hard not to chuckle either.

Gonta was wearing a green suit, with a spider crawling out of his left pocket, and bugs glued to his pants. His gloves seemed to have honey stuck on them, along with a few bees on the back of his hand. Finally, the net that he was holding seemed to be shaped like a spider-web, and there were flies and mosquitos attached to it. Despite the bizarre costume, Gonta was still as amazed as he was from the beginning.

“Gonta love this costume! He looks like real gentleman! Gonta wants it very much!” Gonta exclaimed, as he examined every part of the costume.

Tsumugi laughed. “Yes, you can have it, but only after I get graded on it by my teacher. When you change back, put the clothes back in the box I gave you, okay?” 

“Okay!” Gonta went back into the dorms, and once again the kids started bombarding Tsumugi with questions and comments.

“Make one for me too! I wanna wear it for the Halloween party!”   
  


“How long did that take you?”

“Where’d you get all the spiders and bugs from?” Kokichi, who was asking the question, suddenly gasped. “D-Did you kill them???” 

Tsumugi giggled. “No! I got them from the bug prank kit that you hid in your backpack.”

Kokichi did a double take. “You STALKED my stuff??? Why did you  _ do  _ that? That’s INVADING MY PRIVACY! MOM, look how disrespectful Tsu-poo-gi is being right now!”   
  


“Hey, poop insults are  _ my _ thing!” Miu countered, and they both started arguing just like they did in the morning.

Kirumi quickly put a stop to the argument, and told Tsumugi, “The costume was lovely, but I’d suggest you don’t steal other’s belongings next time, alright?”

Tsumugi pondered Kirumi’s words for a few seconds, then said, “Okay. But only if it’s not Kokichi.” 

Kirumi made a light smile. “Alright, we’ll see if that statement holds up.”


	14. The Day After Halloween

As most days with the children, the day after Halloween was certainly eventful.

First off, Keebo was sent back to the elementary school building, and the chaos that followed was immense.

"Does this mean he's a cyborg now? That's so cool! Hey, what does your brain look like?" Kokichi exclaimed after dropping his bag of Halloween candy.

"For your information, I was pure robot from the beginning," Keebo, who was now back to his normal self, informed Kokichi.

"That's boring!" Kokichi groaned. "Didn't he, like, implement anything inside of you? Nothing? Not even lasers?" He grabbed Keebo's head tightly, shook it, then looked closer in it. "Hey, there's definitely lasers in those eyeballs! Shoot me! Shoot me, right now!"

"It appears that Kokichi's eaten a little too much candy," Kirumi said as she stepped forward to pull Kokichi away from Keebo. Keebo rubbed his head as if he was in pain.

"Are you sure that Kazuichi hadn't implemented _anything_ into Keebo?" Kaede wondered. "I don't think we've ever seen him feel pain like that."

Miu, who refused to welcome back Keebo, and sat at the couch sulking instead, shrugged and mumbled, "I dunno. Maybe getting sick also gave him pain receptors."

"Hey, weren't you the one so concerned about Keebo dying or something?" Kaito wondered. "I thought you'd hug him and start crying, like, I don't know, a husband coming back from war."

"NO!" Miu jumped from her comfortable position in the chair. "I knew he was gonna come back just fine, anyways. I just needed him for his features and functions, that's all."

"That's exactly what a wife would say about his husband coming back from war!" Kokichi teased, who was now sitting on the couch opposite from Miu while Kirumi was checking on Keebo for any extra 'features' that Kazuichi might have added.

Miu rolled her eyes. "Shut up, you- you little abortion!"

Kokichi put his hand to his heart as if he was wounded. "Gasp!" He said out loud. "I can't believe you would _ever_ say anything like that! Now I want more candy, to relieve myself of this pain!" Kokichi reached his hand towards a bag of candy.

"No, that one's mine!" Tenko yelled.

"I think you've all had enough for today," Kirumi cut in.

"But MOOOOOOM!" Kokichi shouted, tears falling from his eyes. "I'm so hurt! How else can I stop myself from feeling this... this pain!"  
  
"I've heard that a few hits to the head distract you from any mental pain," Maki suggested, and everyone turned to stare at her.

"That's alright," Kirumi declined the offer. "We can all just eat dinner instead."

"Dinner!" Himiko exclaimed. "I was starving."

"Didn't you just eat your whole bag of candy?" Kaede asked.

"I used magic to digest it all _really_ quickly."

\---

Since Kirumi was doubtful of anyone being _that_ hungry after eating so much candy, she quickly made some Thai noodles and served them.

"So," Rantaro said, filling the silence that came over the room, "What did you guys do for Halloween?"

Some kids stared at him confusingly, and he became self-aware and got embarrassed. "Sorry.. It's a habit with my little sisters."

"No, no!" Kaede reassured him. "Shuichi has a LOT to tell. Don't you, Shuichi?" Kaede turned to look at him in a way that was more threatening than encouraging, and he sat in silence before speaking up.

"Um, so... something happened in this neighbourhood and someone stole a lot of candy, and.."

"He was like a detective in those movies and stuff!" Kaito suddenly burst out. "He chased the criminal like it was a life-or-death situation! He was so cool! He was almost as cool as me, the Luminary of the Stars! Can you imagine?"

"Not really," A few kids muttered while eating.

"It'd be easier to imagine without an explanation like Kaito's," Maki quietly joked, and everyone stared at her in shock, once again, while Kaito yelled, "Hey! I'm the Luminary of the Stars! My explanations are stellar! See? Stellar? Get it?"

"Well, what Himiko did was better," Tenko huffed as if it was a competition for what was more interesting during Halloween. "She took off her hat and used it to store her candy! Isn't that so smart? I could _never_ think of that! Himiko is so cool!"

"Nyeh, it was nothing," Himiko said, blushing. "I know I'm amazing, but you don't need to overstate it like that."

"Uh, Himiko?" Keebo told her. "I'm pretty sure Tenko was being.. Sarcastic."

Tenko gasped in horror. "How could you assume I'd ever be sarcastic towards _Himiko,_ The future Ultimate MAGE? That.. that's just unimaginable. Well, I guess degenerate _males_ like you would assume things like that."

"Oh, I apologize for my misunderstanding," Keebo said awkwardly.

"Apology NOT accepted!" Tenko said proudly.

"Gonta wore spider costume to Halloween," Gonta said after some awkward silence. "Everyone scared for no reason. Spiders so cute! Gonta didn't get very much candy, though."

"You wanna know why you didn't get much candy?" Kokichi offered, and Kirumi intercepted by saying, "It's okay, Kokichi, I don't think he has to know. How about you all finish eating and go play before bedtime? Which is in about 40 minutes."

"40 minutes?" Miu gasped in horror and started gobbling up her plate of noodles. All the other kids started to follow her example, and Kirumi laughed to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> side note, any food that I mention in this story is either the food I just ate or food I suddenly got the urge to eat


End file.
